School
leaders report seeing more and more boys who are simply not working as hard or
as consistently as they should be. In
the workshop for teachers, I explain the factors driving this phenomenon, with
an emphasis on what teachers can do and have done, to re-engage boys in
academics; to make it cool for a teenage boy to be a gentleman; to motivate the
athlete to be more scholarly, and the scholar to participate in athletics.

When I meet with teachers, I share strategies
which I have learned from schools across North America as well as from boys’
schools in England, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand, to motivate every boy, so that the same boy who
loves video games will also love Jane
Eyre; so that the same boy who loves football and basketball will also love
Emily Dickinson. These strategies are based firmly in what has actually worked
in the classroom to engage boys in English literature, creative writing, and
expository writing; in history and social studies; in mathematics (specifically
in arithmetic, in algebra, and in number theory); and in the sciences. In
addition, I share school-wide strategies and policies which, when combined,
create the feeling of one school
community in which every boy participates, regardless of the size of the
school. These strategies facilitate boys becoming well-rounded gentlemen who
are equally comfortable and equally enthusiastic in the classroom and on the
playing field. You can get a taste of these strategies in chapters 2 and 8 of
my second book Boys Adrift.

--

Jason
was disappointed when he received a B-minus on his class project; he was
expecting an A. He complained to his parents, alleging that the teacher was
biased and unfair. His father called the school to complain about the low mark.

When I meet with parents, I explain why we
parents must work with and support the teachers at the school our children
attend, rather than viewing teachers as adversaries. When a parent picks up the
phone to complain about a grade given by a teacher, the parent is undermining
both the teacher’s authority and also the boy’s ability to learn some lesson
from the low mark received. Regardless of the outcome of the phone call, the
parent has confirmed the son’s assessment that the teacher is unfair and/or
incompetent, and that the son is a victim. Why is such behavior by parents so
common today? That’s one of the questions which I answer in the presentation
for parents.

The problem is even more severe when a boy
commits some misdeed which warrants disciplinary action. Thirty years ago, if a
boy were disrespectful to a teacher, or if he were caught cheating on an exam,
he would face disciplinary action from the school; and he would likely face
more severe disciplinary measures at home. Today, when a boy commits the same
offense, it is common to hear of a parent jumping in to defend the boy and to oppose the
school’s action. The parent adopts the role of attorney, trying to disprove the
school’s case. Such action by the parent sends a message of entitlement to the
boy, profoundly undermining the school’s mission of helping the boy to make the
transition to authentic manhood. The first step is to give parents some
perspective, to see the bigger picture. The first mission of school is not to
ensure that your son has the highest possible GPA. We review recent
longitudinal studies showing that the best long-term predictor of success, on
multiple parameters, is not GPA but character:
Are you responsible? Are you honest? Do you exhibit self-control? Those
parameters are, empirically, much better predictors of income, health, and
happiness at age 32 than any measure of cognitive achievement. The first mission of school therefore
is to help form and improve your son’s character;
which means, above other things, teaching him what it means to be a
gentleman.

--

For two
weeks after the release of Call of Duty:
Black Ops 2 in November 2012, Brett devoted every available minute to
completing every mission, staying up past midnight night after night to play
the game.His school work suffered. He
was visibly fatigued in class, once even nodding off to sleep. He’s 16 years
old, but he didn’t seem to understand, or to care, that the time he was
devoting to the game was time that he should have spent studying – or sleeping.

I welcome the opportunity to meet with
students. These meetings are structured not as lectures or sermons, but as
conversations. I begin the conversation with students by asking, “What’s your
favorite thing to do in your free time, when you’re by yourself with no one
watching?”– a variation on
Alfred North Whitehead’s comment about religion and solitude. No student is required
to answer; I call only on those students who raise their hands. There is
usually one or two pranksters, sometimes more, who try to derail the
conversation with comments about pornography or other illicit activities. I’ve
gotten pretty good at handling the clowns.

The next question I ask the boys is, “What is meant by the term ‘gentleman’?” We consider a quote from John Locke: “Education
begins the gentleman, but reading, good company, and reflection must finish
him.”I then ask the students: “Who are some of your
favorite athletes, or singers? Would you consider any of them to be
‘gentlemen’? Is that term still meaningful or useful today, if we agree
that the word ‘gentleman’ no longer denotes a member of the landed aristocracy?
Do you aspire to be a ‘gentleman’, however you define that term? What
would a gentleman do in his spare time?”One
objective in this conversation is to help teenage boys to recognize that the
single most consequential decision they make, every day, is how they spend their
time.

--

More information about me – my background, my
education, my experience, the previous schools where I have led workshops, and
other training workshops I offer – is available atwww.leonardsax.com.

I
hope to hear from you! Please call 610 296 2821 between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern
Time, or send email to leonardsax@prodigy.net
with a copy please to mcrcad@verizon.net.
If you don’t get a prompt reply to your email (within 48 hours), please call –
not all emails get through.

Leonard
Sax MD PhD

64
East Uwchlan Ave, #259

Exton
PA 19341

Telephone:
610 296 2821

Comments from attendees at my presentations

“Everybody at Merchiston
commented favourably on Dr. Sax’s sessions yesterday.He is impressive and knowledgeable across so
many fields.Every assertion was backed
up with evidence.We would love to have
him back at Merchiston for seven to ten days.I learned a huge amount and so did everybody else. Of all the
presentations we have had in my years at Merchiston, Dr. Sax’s was by far and
away the most impressive.”

“Dr. Sax is the Al Gore of the gender
crisis.He has EDUCATED us about the
nature and scope of the problem.He has
WARNED us about the consequences of doing nothing.And he has INSPIRED us to take action in our
schools and in our communities.”

Michael
Halfin, Huron Heights Secondary School, Newmarket, Ontario

“Of all the sessions I attended, Dr. Sax’s was
the only one which gave me concrete information I could use in the classroom.”

“What an impressive evening!We
have never before been to an event where 600 folks sat, spellbound for two and
a half hours, laughing every 3 minutes and uttering ‘Wow’ every 5.”

Steven
Masters, Saltus School, Hamilton, Bermuda

“I stayed up past midnight talking with my
colleagues about what I heard at Dr. Sax’s presenta­tion earlier that day.His talk was brilliant and inspiring.I confess to feeling a poverty of words in
trying to convey how much I enjoyed hearing Dr. Sax and how much I appreciate
what he is doing.”

“Dr. Sax gave a
fabulous presentation at the Niagara Principals’ conference.My colleagues are still all aglow with what
they heard and have purchased more than 200 of his books through a local
provider – I know, because I arranged the sale.We would very much like to have him back.”

Gary
King, vice principal, Lakeview Public School, Grimsby, Ontario

“I have been providing professional development programs for educators
in St. Louis for nine years and no one comes close to Dr. Sax in style or
content. I can’t tell you how
informative Dr. Sax’s session was for me.I hope I will have the oppor­tunity to listen to Dr. Sax again.”

Genie
Newport, Director, Independent Schools of St. Louis

“I am usually
pessimistic about learning anything useful at the workshops required by our
school district.It was a stroke of luck
that I attended Dr. Sax’s session.What
was so rewarding in his presentation was that it helped me to understand why
some things have worked well for me in the classroom while others have
not.I now see the behavior of my
students in a new way.”

Jonathan
Lind, Sudley Elementary School, Manassas, Virginia

“Dr. Sax gave a
fabulous presentation to our parents last evening. Awesome.This was the biggest crowd we’ve ever been
able to attract for a speaker, and Dr. Sax graciously stayed well beyond his
contracted time to accommodate all.His
insights, all thoroughly supported by research, were at times mind-blowing, and
his sense of humor just added to a totally enjoyable night.”

Linda
D’Orlando, West Windsor – Plainsboro Public Schools, New Jersey

“I was profoundly impressed by the information
which Dr. Sax shared with us.I also
appreci­ated his style of presentation:a logical sequence of ideas supported by compelling evidence.

An excellent
presentation.”

Don
Comeau, Clear Water Academy, Calgary, Alberta

“The thing I find so gratifying in listening
to Dr. Sax is that he provides evidence, hard science, to support the points
he’s making.That’s rare in my
experience, when speakers talk about gender.”

David
Lloyd, The Webb Schools, Claremont, California

My three books Why Gender Matters, Boys Adrift, and Girls on the Edge:

Girls on the Edge:“This
is essential reading for parents and teachers, and one of the most
thought-provoking books on teen development available.”

Library Journal

“Packed with concrete
suggestions for parents, Girls on the
Edge is a treasure trove of rarely-seen research on girls. Dr. Sax’s
commitment to girls’ success comes through on every page.”

Rachel Simmons,author of Odd Girl Out and The Curse
of the Good Girl

Girls on the Edge:“The
best book about the current state of girls and young women. . . offers
astonishing and troubling new insight . . .”

The Atlantic

“Until recently, there have been two groups of people: those
who argue sex differences are innate and should be embraced and those who
insist that they are learned and should be eliminated. Sax is one of the few in
the middle -- convinced that boys and girls are innately different and that we
must change the environment so differences don't become limitations."